Chris Hipkins will become the next prime minister of New Zealand after he was the sole nominee for the Labour leadership being vacated by Jacinda Ardern.

Ms Ardern announced her shock resignation on Thursday, citing exhaustion after five and a half years in the job.

Her surprise exit – not known to her party until just hours before – set Labour MPs racing to find a replacement as party leader and prime minister.

Mr Hipkins, the police and education minister and a trusted ally of Ms Ardern, emerged as the consensus candidate in the hastily-convened leadership race, which will be ratified at a party room meeting on Sunday.

The 44-year-old, who was raised and lives in the Hutt Valley to the north of Wellington, said he was honoured and humbled by the endorsement.

‘Boy from the Hutt’

“It’s a big day for a boy from the Hutt,” Mr Hipkins said outside Parliament House on Saturday.

“It’s an also an enormous responsibility and the weight of that responsibility is still sinking in. But I absolutely take it very seriously and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Mr Hipkins stayed tight-lipped on the discussions that led to his unopposed candidacy as Labour leader.

The 44-hour process did not allow grassroots Labour members or the Kiwi public a say, which Ms Ardern justified as crucial to allow government stability.

“The most important thing is that we focus on a process that is swift, that ensures that the team was able to move quickly back to focusing on the issues that matter for New Zealand,” Ms Ardern said.

Never-rans

Local media outlets speculated Michael Wood, the transport minister, also considered nominating for the leadership, which would surely have been won by deputy PM Grant Robertson, who instead ruled himself out of contention.

Instead, Mr Hipkins will take the reins for the next nine months ahead of an election Ms Ardern set for October 14.

Labour is narrowly trailing the centre-right opposition National party according to public polls, and the party hopes Mr Hipkins’ fresh leadership will re-cast the race in their favour.

The Remutaka MP is a well-liked member of parliament, known for his sense of humour and enjoyment of sausage rolls.

He is Labour through and through, volunteering for the party at a young age and president of his university student union. After working as an adviser in the Helen Clark government, he entered parliament in 2008 in the same intake as Ms Ardern and Mr Robertson – who was best man at his wedding.

Albanese sends his regards

He endured nine years in opposition before emerging as the Ardern government’s most senior figures, as leader of the house for the last five years.

He has been thrown difficult jobs – such as COVID-19 minister and police minister – by Ms Ardern when safe hands were needed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to congratulate Mr Hipkins earlier on Saturday.

“We had a good chat … it was very warm,” he said.

“There is a Labor government in Australia, a Labour government in New Zealand. Of course that means that we’ve going to have a good working relationship.”

-AAP